CROSS-CULTURAL VALIDATION OF HOLLAND’S INTEREST STRUCTURE  
                                 IN CHINESE POPULATION 
                                           by 
                                      WEIWEI YANG 
                             (Under the Direction of Garnett S. Stokes) 
                                       ABSTRACT 
                This study evaluated Holland’s structure hypotheses – circular order and circumplex – 
           in two populations in China at both subtest (i.e., Activities, Competencies, Occupational 
           Preferences, and Self-ratings on Abilities) and entire test levels of the Self-Directed Search 
           (SDS; Holland, 1994).  Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that the circumplex model 
           was generally not supported for Mainland and Hong Kong samples.  Randomization test of 
           hypothesized order relations suggested that the circular order model fit different samples at 
           different test levels of the SDS.  The randomization test of differences in fit indicated that the 
           circular order model (1) fit slightly better for Hong Kong males than Mainland males at three 
           subtests (i.e., Activities, Competencies, and Self-ratings on Abilities); (2) fit slightly better 
           for Hong Kong females than Mainland females at three subtests (i.e., Activities, 
           Competencies, and Occupational Preferences); and (3) fit females slightly better than males 
           in both Mainland China and Hong Kong.    
           INDEX WORDS:      Holland’s vocational interests; hexagon; cross-cultural validation; 
                           Chinese; the Self-Directed Search (SDS). 
                 
                 
                                             
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                             
                                             
              CROSS-CULTURAL VALIDATION OF HOLLAND’S INTEREST STRUCTURE  
                                 IN CHINESE POPULATION 
                                             
                                           by 
                                             
                                      WEIWEI YANG 
                        B. S. S., The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2002 
                                             
                                             
                                             
                                             
                                             
                                             
               A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial 
                           Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree 
                                             
                                             
                                             
                                   MASTER OF SCIENCE 
                                             
                                             
                                    ATHENS, GEORGIA 
                                          2004 
                                                          
                                                          
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                © 2004 
                              Weiwei Yang 
                             All Rights Reserved 
                                                                          
                                                                         
                                            
                                            
               CROSS-CULTURAL VALIDATION OF HOLLAND’S INTERST STRUCTURE 
                                 IN CHINESE POPULATION 
                                            
                                          by 
                                            
                                     WEIWEI YANG 
                                            
                                            
                                            
                                            
                                            
                                            
                                            
                                            
                                            
                                           Major Professor:       Garnett Stokes 
                                           Committee:                Karl Kuhnert 
                                                                              Gary Lautenschlager 
                                            
                                            
                                            
            
            
            
           Electronic Version Approved: 
            
           Maureen Grasso 
           Dean of the Graduate School 
           The University of Georgia 
           May 2004